


Knight

by Mischel



Series: Merlinktober 2019 [4]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Dress Up, First Kiss, Gwaine Being Gwaine (Merlin), Knight Merlin, M/M, Merlinktober 2019, Pining Arthur, this is a funny one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-09
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-11-28 13:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20967308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischel/pseuds/Mischel
Summary: The number of times that Arthur "needed" to dress Merlin up as a knight to be a decoy was beginning to be both suspicions and ridiculous. Especially for Merlin, as well as Gwaine. This time though, Merlin finally demands an explanation for Arthur's behaviour.Classic first kiss fic with Gwaine helping out.Merlinktober art + fic.Day 9 - Knight





	Knight

**Author's Note:**

> It's really late and I haven't even started on homework, but writing this was so so worth it! I'm actually proud of it :D Hopefully, you'll like it too!
> 
> Enjoy! :)

It had already been at least twenty minutes and Arthur was still barely done with Merlin’s chain mail. They were on a mission and Arthur had decided, for what would have been at least the tenth time for the past few weeks, that they needed Merlin to dress as a knight to use as a decoy for their enemies.

They’d done that so many times now that Merlin thought it would take Arthur a little less time to dress him this time.

“So what? Has it got the splendour every knight chain mail should have already?” Merlin teased.

Arthur’s fingers stilled for a moment, still glued to Merlin’s belt buckle - as they had been for nearly five minutes now.

“Shut up, Merlin.”

Merlin pursed his lips. Oddly enough, he found himself almost enjoying the attention Arthur paid to his appearance.

After another two minutes, Merlin couldn’t help but say, “All this time you spend making sure I look like a proper knight . . . makes me think I must look bloody amazing by now.”

Arthur frowned at that but was secretly glad that Merlin couldn’t see his blush from above him. “Don’t flatter yourself, Merlin. You look as ridiculous as always.”

Merlin folded his arms on his chest. ”You just can’t admit that I actually look good.” 

Before Arthur could answer, Gwaine emerged from the bushes and joined them. Needless to say, Arthur was still crouched down with his hands on Merlin’s belt. “How’s it coming along, fellas- oh,  _ oh,  _ I hope I’m not  _ interrupting _ anything or-”

“We’re nearly done, here” Arthur assured the knight and hurried to get up from the ground. 

“Does that mean that there  _ was _ something or . . . “ Gwaine smirked. Arthur just gave him a death glare that ended the conversation right away.

“Hey, Gwaine,” Merlin smiled at his friend cheerfully and waved at him.

Arthur turned around to fetch the red cloak he’d laid on one of the firmer bushes earlier, and carefully put it around Merlin’s shoulders. He stepped aside to admire it for a second and then returned to adjust the buckle several times.

Gwaine gave Merlin such a quizzical look that it almost made him laugh.

“When he said  _ nearly done _ , what he actually meant was  _ give me a few more minutes _ ,” he clarified.

Gwaine smirked. “Seems like  _ a lot  _ of unnecessary attention, if you ask me.”

Arthur sighed. “He  _ needs _ to look the part, Gwaine. What’s the point of having him as a decoy when they don’t fall for it because he didn’t  _ look _ like a proper knight?”

Merlin pursed his lips, stifling his laugh, when he looked at Gwaine. “He’s a bit defensive about that.”

“I can see that.” Gwaine folded his arms on his chest.

Arthur just kept working on the buckle, adjusting the red cloth on Merlin’s shoulders to smooth out any creases.

Gwaine sighed. “Alright. One, I think you two should have eloped a long time ago if it wasn’t for Arthur having an entire kingdom to run, and two, I’ll just go tell Elyan that yes, we’ve got time for another one of his stories.” With that Gwaine turned around and disappeared in the bushes again.

Instead of answering that, Arthur furiously dedicated even more attention to Merlin’s red cloak.

“He’s got a point, you know,” Merlin shrugged.

“I-”

“You’ve been giving me a  _ lot  _ of attention lately, dressing me up like a knight all the time, even  _ practising  _ in your chambers to, quote,  _ be prepared for when the occasion arises, _ unquote.”

“It’s not-”

“I’m not saying that you’re hopelessly in love with me or anything, but . . . yeah, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”

Suddenly, they both fell silent, eyes locked, searching for answers in them. Both waiting for the other one to speak first.

Arthur cleared his throat and glimpsed at his fingers - still holding the buckle on Merlin’s chest, keeping the cloak on his shoulders. He finished the job and put his hands down. Oh god, he could feel the hotness rising up his cheeks. He swallowed nervously.

“So?” Merlin asked, carefully hiding the hope in his voice.

Arthur shrugged. “So what?”

Merlin stifled a groan. “So, after all this time I’ve endured being your personal dress-up doll, could you at least let me know if I’m right?”

Arthur pursed his lips. “Do you really want to know how I feel?”

“After all this?” Merlin gestured to his cloak and armour and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Alright,” Arthur mumbled as he quickly raised his hands, putting them on Merlin’s cheeks. “ _ This _ -” he said, closing his eyes and moving forward, kissing Merlin right then and there with no hesitation whatsoever. Because Gwaine was right and this should have happened a long time ago if Arthur hadn’t been such a coward.

Merlin didn’t even have time to be surprised when his mouth was suddenly occupied. He closed his eyes and instantly melted against Arthur, wrapping his arms around his waist.

Now  _ this _ , was a satisfactory reward for all the time Merlin had spent standing, posing for Arthur for no other reason than that the king  _ liked _ it, apparently.

Much sooner than he would have liked, the kiss was over and Arthur pulled away. “ _ This _ ,” he repeated, “is how I feel.”

Merlin swallowed and nodded, his eyebrows raised in a stupid daze. “Yes,” he managed. “ _ That _ is how I feel, also.”

Arthur laughed.

And someone from the bushes laughed, too. “You know,” Gwaine emerged, his finger raised and an amused smirk on his face. “I just realized that we don’t even need a decoy today? Like, at all?”

Merlin turned to look at Arthur in amusement, while the king’s cheeks turned red.

But before he or Merlin could say anything, Gwaine whistled at them. “Oh, sorry, didn’t realize you’d figured it out already.” Then he clapped. “Well then, I’ll let myself out and tell Elyan that he can tell us the other story as well.” And he was gone again.

Merlin and Arthur looked at one another, still wrapped in each other’s arms, and with a smile returned to their previous activity - the enjoyable one, not the dress-up.

Well, maybe they’d save the dress-up for some other time.

For Arthur’s sake.

**Author's Note:**

> I missed writing Gwaine so much! :D
> 
> Thank you for reading!!


End file.
